ZEELAND, MI – The Zeeland School Board voted 6-1 Thursday night to reprimand and suspend Superintendent Dave Barry after he admitted to plagiarizing the work of an education blogger in an employee newsletter.

"The Zeeland Board of Education doesn't not condone plagiarizism in the classroom, among the staff or as part of the education process," Zeeland school board president Tom Den Herder said after the board met for nearly four hours in closed session to discuss the matter.

Beginning Friday, Barry will be suspended for two weeks without pay. He makes an annual salary of $160,000. Board member Carol Slagh was the lone vote against the action.

"I have fallen short of the mark and I feel like I have left a lot of people down," Barry said after the vote.

Prior to going into closed session at 3:05 p.m., the school board heard from two parents, one in favor of Barry’s dismissal and another supportive of him staying. There were initially an audience of 13 people, but about half left before the decision was made.